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Sharon van Etten

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John Cale Restores Nico’s Musical Legacy in All-Star Tribute

By Judy Berman on

[Ed. note: In honor of John Cale's mini-residency at BAM this week -- including an all-star tribute to Nico on Wednesday and performances of his 1973 solo album, Paris 1919 on Friday and Saturday -- Flavorwire New York has embarked upon a week-long celebration of all things Velvet Underground.]

With all the tribute albums and concerts (and art shows and dance parties, etc.) on offer these days, it’s easy forget that they can be more than just shallow attempts on the part of their organizers to cash in on a name more famous than their own. Last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the consistently thoughtful, uncompromising John Cale reminded me. Not only did he amass an appropriate and diverse set of musicians for Life Along the Borderline: A Tribute to Nico, but his clear-eyed and unsentimental celebration of his one-time Velvet Underground bandmate did what any worthwhile tribute should do — broadened and deepened our understanding of its subject. … Read More

Music

Staff Picks: What's on the Flavorpill Stereo This Month

By Tom Hawking on

We doubt it surprised many of you to learn that we were voracious readers at Flavorpill, and it’ll probably surprise no one to discover that we’re also big music nerds whose collective tastes cover a pretty broad spectrum of genres and sounds. What’s playing over the office stereo is always a topic for, um, polite discussion, especially when certain members of staff insist on playing Gotye repeatedly. Anyway, we thought we’d expand on the idea we started last month of soliciting staff picks for reading matter, and also ask our colleagues around the country what’s been on their stereo over the last few weeks. The results await after the jump — let us know what you’ve been listening to of late! … Read More

Music

Hear Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater Cover "Stop Dragging My Heart Around"

By Tom Hawking on

Here at Flavorpill, we were, um, delighted to feature on the Onion yesterday, but for all that we’ve always adored the paper’s scalpel-sharp satire, we’ve also long been fans of its more serious cousin, the AV Club. So we’re happy to see that their AV Undercover series — wherein they compile a list… Read More

Music

All Tomorrow’s Parties Announces Amazing 2012 Asbury Park Line-Up

By Judy Berman on

In our humble opinion, All Tomorrow’s Parties is the best music festival in the world — the kind of event that music nuts like your Flavorpill editors spend idle moments fantasizing about. So, like the rest of America’s ATP junkies, we’ve been impatiently awaiting an initial line-up announcement ever since we heard in December that a reunited Afghan Whigs would be headlining and co-curating this year’s I’ll Be Your Mirror in Asbury Park, NJ. And now it’s here, and it’s fantastic!

The biggest news is that Ian Svenonius’ reunited late-’90s gospel-punk project The Make-Up, who are playing an ATP in London this spring, are on the bill, despite uncertainty about whether they’d play any stateside shows outside their native DC. Comedy fans, meanwhile, will be excited to hear that Louis CK — probably the biggest comedian the festival has even drawn — will perform. The rest of the line-up is just classic, awesome ATP: Mark Lanegan, Dirty Three, Scrawl, Sharon Van Etten, The Roots, Thee Oh Sees, Factory Floor, etc.

Tickets go on sale Monday (2/27) at 10 am ET, via atpfestival.com — and this year, if you buy before March 27th, you can purchase your weekend passes for only $199. (The price will climb to $249 after that.) Click through to see the full list of who’s playing, and remember, additions will be forthcoming in the months before the festival. … Read More

Music

10 Albums You Need to Hear in February

By Judy Berman on

Good news, music fans: The industry’s annual November-January dry spell is over, and our cup runneth over with promising new releases in February. In fact, if we enumerated everything we were looking forward to this month, we’d have a list three times as long this one. So, as always, we’ve narrowed it down to the ten albums you absolutely need to hear in the next 29 days. From indie stalwarts issuing hotly anticipated new records to frontmen gone successfully solo to oh my God, the new Sleigh Bells album, you guys, there’s something for everyone — except maybe Nicki Minaj fans, because she pushed her Valentine’s Day album back to April — after the jump. … Read More

Music

5 Albums to Stream for Free This Week: of Montreal, Sharon Van Etten

By Judy Berman on

Welcome to your Monday slog, worker bees! We can’t make your hangover magically disappear or do anything about that pile of papers on your desk, but we can try to make your day a bit more pleasant with our weekly roundup of notable albums to stream for free online. This week’s haul is an impressive one, featuring the latest from of Montreal and Sharon van Etten, a promising debut from buzz-band Blondes, a deep, dark solo record by Mark Lanegan, and an unnecessary (but entirely welcome) reminder that Aretha Franklin is the best. Gorge yourself on great new music after the jump. … Read More